499 F.3d 443 - Norris v. Thomas — 499 F.3d 443

How this case has been cited

Cited by 21 later decisions — most recently June 2025

5 federal appellate · 2 district · 2 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

¶1Summary Calendar.

¶2Melvin R. Blumberg, San Antonio, TX, for Appellants.

¶3Johnny W. Thomas, San Antonio, TX, pro se.

¶4Before KING, HIGGINBOTHAM and GARZA, Circuit Judges.

¶5PER CURIAM:

¶6Thomas and Karen Norris challenge the bankruptcy court’s ruling, affirmed by the district court, that their boat does not qualify as a homestead in bankruptcy. On June 20, 2005 we certified the question to the Supreme Court of Texas, thus:

Does a motorized waterborne vessel, used as a primary residence and otherwise fulfilling all of the requirements of a homestead except attachment to land, qualify for the homestead exemption under Article 16, §§50 and 51 of the Texas Constitution?1

¶7On February 9, 2007, the Supreme Court of Texas issued its opinion in response to our certified question, holding that a boat cannot qualify as a homestead.2 In light of this decision by the Supreme Court of Texas, the judgment of the district court is

¶8AFFIRMED.